Beowulf
By: Isabel Goicochea
Beowulf, an
epic story passed down for decades. Since it is an epic, it has been orally
passed down. Translations of Beowulf vary.
There are various noticeable likenesses and differences in its translations.
This story varies in text versus film. A few visible differences between text
and film are the reasons behind his attack to herot, what happened to Grendel’s
mother, and Beowulf becoming king at the end of this epic.
The reasoning behind Grendel’s attack
in the text differs from what is seen in the film. It is said in text, that
Grendel attacked Herot because he was curious to see what the humans did while
they were quiet. In contrast, in the film it is shown that he decided to attack
Herot because he could not stand the noise. Herot was too loud and he disliked
the noise. Those are two very different reasons for him deciding to attack
Herot. Also in regards to his attack, in film he attacks while they are In the
middle of a celebration but in text that is not the case. In text he attacks
while everyone is sleeping.
Grendel’s mother is described a demon
type figure in the text. What you see in the film is not a demon. You see a human
like figure. She does posses demon like qualities and can turn into a dragon.
Beowulf is told to defeat Grendel’s mother. In text we are made to think that
Beowulf did indeed defeat the monstrous creature (Grendel’s mother). In the
film we see that Beowulf fell for Grendel’s mother. Grendel’s mom promised
Beowulf riches, and to become a powerful king. She seduced him, and ended up
kissing. There is no way he killed her, yet he went back up to Herot claiming
he had killed her.
One last difference is Beowulf’s
ending. He indeed became king after all the battles. What changes in the film
is what place he became too. In the text we are told that he became king of
Sweden. In comparison Beowulf became king of the Danes in the film. He becomes
king for 50 years.
In both film and text the main
message of the story is the same. The way things occurred is what changes. The
attack, the meeting with Beowulf’s mother and becoming king are a few major
differences. They have the same
characters, and setting but the events change. You will notice that most of the
time when stories are made into films directors have to change a couple of
events or the manner in which they occur for sales. The main event and idea
will remain the same.
